Idea Cellular and Vodafone Group on Thursday announced the proposed leadership team of the combined business, which will have Kumar Mangalam Birla as the non-executive Chairman.

Idea Cellular and Vodafone Group on Thursday announced the proposed leadership team of the combined business, which will have Kumar Mangalam Birla as the non-executive Chairman.

However, both the companies will continue with their separate business until the merger is being completed.

"The existing leadership teams of Idea Cellular and Vodafone India will continue to manage their separate businesses and be accountable for each company's operational performance until the merger becomes effective," the notification, released by Idea Cellular reads.

The partnership was first announced back in March 2017 with the aim to create the country's largest telecom operator worth over USD 23 billion, with a 35 per cent market share.

Vodafone Group and Idea Cellular today announced the proposed leadership team of the combined business, which will come into effect after the merger has been completed pic.twitter.com/ZgBmziBScT

Apart from Kumar Mangalam Birla, Balesh Sharma is included in the at the top deck for the merged entity. Sharma, who is appointed as the CEO of the merger, will be responsible for the combined business strategy and its execution as well as driving integration.

Ambrish Jain is set to hold the position of COO while Nick Gliddon and Manish Dawar will be responsible for the Enterprise Business and integration planning respectively.

The merger of Vodafone-Idea -- which is set to dislodge the numero uno player Bharti Airtel -- was imminent as the incumbent operators have been bruised by aggressive offers from newcomer Reliance Jio, which triggered a tariff war in the Indian telecom market.